for all things must come to an end
by The-Darkness-Befalls
Summary: She kept falling for all those unattainable, wrong-for-her guys, worming her way into their hearts, then finding herself heartbroken on the other side. But that's what being a star was, right?
1. Chapter 1 The Fall

He never meant for anything to happen.

Really, he hadn't.

She just couldn't let it go.

* * *

She kept falling for all those unattainable, wrong-for-her guys, worming her way into their hearts, then finding herself heartbroken on the other side.

But that's what being a star was, right?

* * *

for all things must come to an end

A Will/Rachel Fanfiction

Written for Finny

* * *

Chapter One - The Fall

* * *

It isn't until August that Rachel admits she still wants to know what it would feel like to press her lips on his. She's a month fresh from her break-up with Finn, and only two weeks are left until her senior year.

She sees Mr. Schuester at the car wash, of all places. She's walking out of Melanie's [Lima's only Jewish friendly vegan food store, great prices too!] when she sees him across the street.

He's wearing a ratty old t-shirt, a hole on his right sleeve and another tear on the lower back.

She can't help the bubbly feeling in her stomach.

She hates herself for a minute, scenarios etching in her mind.

Him and her and his ratty t-shirt, pushed up against the piano-no. No, she can't afford to think like that.

New York.

She needs New York.

* * *

Kurt waves her down, holding his own bags from their shopping trip. She smiles. After all, Kurt knew exactly what to say when she needed to focus. It's why she was glad to have his friendship.

She's getting in Kurt's Navigator when she sees her.

Miss Pillsbury.

She never had a chance, did she?

* * *

That night, Kurt comes over for a sleepover. She's glad. After all, in the time between getting dropped off at her house and his arrival, she had much too time to think about being kissed roughly on the piano bench [or the stage] [or the-really why couldn't she stop thinking about it!]

That night, Kurt comes over for a sleepover. She's glad.

Turns out, Kurt can be _very _distracting when she's thinking about hot kisses and smeared lipstick.

* * *

The way Kurt talked about Blaine, she assumed they'd be together forever.

Then again, she'd assumed Finn would be with her forever too.

* * *

Rachel ignores Kurt's adamant defense of Blaine's decision to tell him they were better off as friends. Friends don't say I love you while looking at eachother like that.

Rachel wonders if Blaine saw something that Kurt didn't even realise, or if he met someone else.

Either way, for now Blaine is the enemy for hurting her best friend.

Her best friend. Isn't it strange how much her life has changed?

* * *

They're having a pity party at three in the morning. It's hard not to think about how good being with Finn (and even with Jesse and Puck) felt when you're talking about heartache with your best friend. Eventually, she nicks a bottle from her dads' liquor cabinet and they drink.

When he talks about his lack of sex appeal, she nearly kisses him. But she stops herself in time, and ignores him when he repeatedly asks about her flushed face. That is one thing she's afraid even their friendship can't withstand.

She kissed Blaine once, and she almost lost Kurt because of it.

By the time it hits five in the morning, they've begun to tell secrets that no one else knows.

Like a shared fantasy of Mr. Schuester and the piano, and about how they were afraid of New York and thrilled at the same time.

They make plans to share an apartment, and Rachel knows that for once, she has a real chance at her dream.

* * *

She misses Finn. She's not afraid to admit it to herself. But she was finally starting to get over the heartbreak when he kissed her [at Nationals, the reason they lost].

Like many things, it had to come to an end.

She wanted to give up _everything _for Finn, in that moment, when his lips were on hers.

But that's no way to start a relationship, and it was no way to prepare herself for New York.

* * *

Kurt is her best friend, and she is glad for it.

Of course, she doesn't think her dads could be more confused when they come to wake them only to find both her and Kurt in the bathtub.

They weren't naked of course. They'd just fallen asleep there somewhere around seven in the morning.

And so what if she doesn't remember why they'd decided to lay down there?

They'd made plans to go chasing their dreams together.

* * *

Rachel sees Mr. Schuester again two days later. He's brought his car in for an oil change at the same time that Rachel has come to talk to Finn.

Kurt had called her to tell her that Finn wasn't going to be in Glee Club anymore.

She came to change his mind.

* * *

She hides just outside the garage when Mr. Schue starts to talk to Finn.

"I know you're hurting over Rachel, Finn. But we really need you in Glee Club. This is our year for it, I know it."

She leaves while he talks to Finn.

She knows she'll see Finn in Glee Club. Mr. Schuester was always the best at convincing others that his way was best. Sometimes it took awhile, but they'd all followed him in the end, hadn't they?

* * *

Sometimes, late at night, Rachel sneaks out. She never does anything illegal or overly dangerous.

She just likes to walk when her mind is full and she's too awake to sleep. It's her secret of all secrets.

Walking to clear her mind.

And it's best at night when no one can see her, and no one knows she's gone.

* * *

She stops cold when she sees him. He's holding Miss Pillsbury's face between his hands and slowly moving to kiss her. [Why can't she be the one in his hands?]

She can't help the strangled yelp that escapes her throat.

But she stop them from seeing her, so she turns and runs.

* * *

The first day of school has her on edge. She hasn't seen Mr. Schuester since [that night]. She never told Kurt about either time she'd seen him either. He knew about the car wash, and she's too afraid to tell him about the rest.

She knows what he would say and she doesn't want to hear it.

* * *

She can drown out her own voice that says New York, New York! Nothing comes before New York!

But she can't drown out Kurt's.

Besides, he'd comment on Mr. Schuester being their teacher as well. When he's not drunk, he's much too smart.

* * *

It feels stiff during Glee. Everyone talks about how amazing the summer was, until it gets to Finn. Finn says he broke up with Rachel. She lets him say it without a word. He deserves that much.

Then it's Kurt's turn, and he has that sad look in his eyes as he tells everyone that Blaine decided they were better off as friends.

She feels guilty for letting thoughts of Mr. Schuester dominate the air since her and Kurt and made plans for New York.

* * *

Neither she or Kurt can help the shared look after everyone starts packing up their things once it's over.

After all, Mr. Schuester is sitting on the piano bench.

* * *

"Rachel, can you stay behind for a moment?" Mr. Schue asks her. She waves Kurt off, pretending not to see the worry and hurt in Kurt'_s _eyes.

Once the room clears, he speaks to her again.

"I saw you out near South Lima the other night. Is something going on you need to talk about?"

Yes, her body screams.

"No, Mr. Schuester. I don't go out to South Lima."

Lying is easy, but this one _feels_wrong.

* * *

Mr. Schuester talked to her dads about it, she finds out. They've known since it happened that she snuck out.

They were going to let him figure it out, hoping she'd trust someone.

But no one knows why Rachel does it.

Perhaps even she doesn't.

* * *

It is nearly a month later, after a terrible day in her morning classes, and a terrible afternoon learning that Juilliard wasn't a possibility, that she cracks.

She kisses him in the middle of the choir room. A full five seconds.

And she leaves before he can say a word, before she has a chance to regret it.

* * *

His lips taste like mint and coffee, and feel softer than her own.

This is the fall, she knows. Every star has one. Maybe it's good to get it out of the way.

* * *

_**End of Chapter**_** One**


	2. Chapter 2 The Worst

for all things must come to an end

A Will/Rachel Fanfiction

Written for Finny

* * *

Chapter Two - The Worst

* * *

Rachel locks herself in her room as soon as she gets home. She latches the windows and ties the curtains closed. She pushes her dresser up against the bedroom door and slides her vanity stool in front of the door in her bathroom that leads to the hall.

-x-

She doesn't want anyone to bother her.

-x-

She doesn't want anyone to touch her.

-x-

She doesn't feel like Rachel Berry.

-x-

She doesn't feel like a star

-x-

She doesn't deserve to.

* * *

She can hear her dads in the hallway, hears them knocking on her door.

But they can't get in. Even if they had the spare key.

-x-

She has no doubt they are worried about her.

-x-

"Rachel. . . Rachel, baby girl?"

She doesn't answer, just hugs her legs and silently cries.

* * *

"Rachel?" his voice cuts through the darkness in her room. It's Kurt, dependable Kurt.

"I don't feel much like talking today, Kurt. I am sure I will be back to normal by tomorrow. Please, tell my dads not to worry."

-x-

She comes out of her room almost half past ten that evening. Her dads don't ask her why she was so despondent and for that she is glad. She knows they will ask her soon, but for now they are silent.

She stands in her kitchen eating lukewarm rice and trying not to cry for nearly ten minutes, before she abandons the bowl and the warmth of her fathers' arms for her solitude.

* * *

The next morning, Mr. Schuester corners her just outside the auditorium.

"Rachel, I know you took Finn breaking up with you hard-"

"He didn't break up with me. I broke up with him. And if you'll excuse me, I have a class to get to."

She swallows back a cry, and walks away.

-x-

In Glee, she is back to her animated and loud self. She talks about solos and New York and NYADA.

But she refuses to allow herself to look at Mr. Schuester.

-x-

"Rachel, can you stay after please."

-x-

Why won't he leave her alone? Can't he see that she wants to focus on New York and her dream and nothing more?

-x-

She stays behind.

-x-

"Are you doing okay, Rachel?"

She isn't sure why she does it again. But she does. She kisses him soundly on the lips. [one two three four five six] seven seconds.

His stunned look made her feel horribly strange.

She runs again.

"Rach-"

* * *

She does not stop running until she's standing at the bus stop just half a block from the school.

-x-

She does not breathe easily again until she's standing in front of Kurt's house.

-x-

Rachel knocks.

-x-

Carole answers the door and at first she doesn't say a word.

"Can I wait for Kurt in his room?"

Rachel can't look up at Carole's face.

She knows she should tell someone and if she looks at Carole she will blurt it all out. Carole Hummel is too easy to talk to. She's the epitome of motherhood.

"Rachel, do you want me to call your parents?" Carole's reassuring voice asks her. Rachel nearly chokes.

"No, it's all right. I will call them. I just really need to talk with Kurt."

"Did something happen with Finn, honey?"

"Mrs. Hummel, I appreciate your concern, but not all my troubles are about your son."

With that, Rachel walks past her into the house.

-x-

When Kurt walks in his room, Rachel starts to cry. It is too much, everything is too much, and she can't control herself any longer.

-x-

"Rachel? Rachel!" Kurt was trying to help, she knew that. But what if she was beyond help? She'd spent so long trying to be a star, that she didn't know how to be herself anymore.

-x-

She draws in a loud and shaky breath.

"Kurt, can you shut the door?"

After closing the door, he settles on the bed next to her and pulls her into himself.

-x-

"Kurt. . . I'm scared."

-x-

It's the first time she's admitted it without a bit (a lot) of alcohol in her bloodstream.

-x-

"And not just because of New York."

-x-

And it's the first time she's saying it aloud to Kurt, not just New York, but all of it. Kissing Mr. Schuester and hiding and being cornered and then kissing him again.

-x-

And knowing he wasn't telling anyone about it.

-x-

"Promise me something, Kurt?"

"Of course, Rachel."

-x-

"Promise me you won't tell anyone? Please."

And he promises her he won't tell. He promises to keep her secret.

There is a strange look on his face, but she ignores it.

Kurt knows, and he's still going to be there for her.

* * *

She gets home when it's nearly eight in the evening. Her dads question her, but ultimately, they leave her be.

They don't know.

Mr. Schuester hasn't told them.

-x-

She's not sure why that makes her feel uneasy.

* * *

Just after midnight, she pinches a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet.

-x-

A quarter after one in the morning, she sneaks out again.

She doesn't realise how much noise she makes leaving, drunk as she is.

-x-

She walks aimlessly, just trying to clear her head._ [just trying to find him]_

Within an hour, she finds herself looking up at the yellow light of an apartment, the figure of a man in the window.

-x-

Mr. Schuester.

-x-

She goes upstairs.

* * *

He answers the door when she knocks, pulling his shirt down as he does so.

She pushes her way in, and she's not completely sure why, but she pushes her way inside.

"Rachel, you can't be in here."

She laughs.

"Why didn't you tell anyone? I kissed you, twice."

"I know you're trying to work through some things and you're conf-"

"I'm not confused!" she nearly screams it at him.

He's more confused than she expected.

She acts before he has a chance to react.

Rachel hooks her fingers in the fabric of his collar and yanks him down, capturing his lips with her own.

* * *

She's at her worst when she's afraid of her best.

* * *

_**End of Chapter Two**_


	3. Chapter 3 The Mourning

for all things must come to an end

A Will/Rachel Fanfiction

Written for Finny

* * *

Chapter Three - the mourning

* * *

Rachel Berry wakes up the next morning in her bed. She does not recall how she got home, and only recalls the events after leaving her house in the vague sense of she did something wrong.

The alarm clock tells her that it's a quarter after two in the afternoon and not morning at all.

-x-

She wishes away the last three days.

-x-

She wishes everything was back to the way it was before she saw him at the car wash.

-x-

Back when she could remember being happy on her own.

-x-

Back when she could remember being happy.

-x-

Her dads find her sitting against her bed nearly twenty minutes later.

Once she sees them, she bursts out crying.

-x-

She's so afraid.

* * *

End of Part One

-x_x-

**A/N:** Chapter Four, and thus the start of Part Two, is nearly finished and should be up by Friday. It currently stands at 1,293 words.  
Thank you for reading.


	4. Chapter 4 I Love You

for all things must come to an end  
A Will/Rachel Fanfiction  
Written for Finny

* * *

Part Two: The Recovery

* * *

Chapter Four - I Love You

* * *

Kurt Hummel wakes up with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

It's nearly eleven in the morning on a school day, but his dad and Carole have given both himself and Finn permission to sleep in.

Rachel hadn't been found until early in the morning hours.

-x-

It was almost four in the morning before the two got back home from the all-Glee search party.

Rachel had gone missing sometime around one am, leaving a destroyed room in her wake.

Her dads had called Kurt and Finn both, and apparently also called Mercedes and Puck. It wasn't long before they'd all been searching for her.

Though Mr. Schue had arrived at the Berry's just after three [with a sleeping and scantily clad Rachel in tow] they had all stayed for another half an hour and shared their fears of the night with one another while Rachel slept off her whiskey binge. And they had also told the Berrys' how strangely Rachel had been acting the past few days.

-x-

Except, neither Kurt himself or Mr. Schuester brought up the kisses. and Kurt had wondered what else she had done, what else had occurred before he brought her home.

But in the end, the need for sleep-like always-eventually won out for the group.

-x-

It had been nearly eight in the morning before Kurt was able to sleep.

* * *

He is making lunch for Finn and himself when it occurs to him that maybe Mr. Schuester knows more than he's letting on.

Why wouldn't he tell her parents about her untoward advances? How else can they help her?

But he won't tell them. He promised her.

She's his best friend, and he is hers.

And right now, she needs him.

* * *

"Kurt?"

He's conjugating verbs for French class when Carole sits on the edge of his bed. She looks hesitant, and Kurt can't blame her.

"Hmmm?" is all he can manage to get out as he quickly writes the correct answer down.

"Do you know what's going on with Rachel?"

How does he answer that without breaking his promise?

"She's having a hard time handling classes and the applications for NYADA. She's a little lonely, too. But I've been trying to help her." It's as honest as he can be.

It makes his stomach turn.

* * *

School the next day is hard. He can't concentrate in French IV, and German II is an utter failure.

He thinks, briefly, about running for student council. But he already knows he's stretched too thin.

American Government is a rather easy class, but mostly because of the substitute. He doesn't pay attention-which isn't normal for him.

But today, he makes an exception.

By the time he gets to Spanish III [really, why did he end up taking three foreign language classes his senior year?], he's exhausted beyond measure.

And he feels a little guilty when he can't look at Mr. Schuester.

-x-

Rachel shows up just in time for Creative Writing, their last and only required class together.

She's wearing her usual clothes, but she still doesn't look herself.

He clears the seat next to him and squeezes her hand when class starts.

-x-

Rachel walks to the front of the choir room when Glee starts. Her smile is still uneasy and weary, but she seems to relax when he nods at her.

"I am a star. I was born to be one and I am one. And every star has a fall, so now I can be an ever better star. I. . . I would like to sing you all a song for looking out for me."

-x-

Kurt finds Rachel waiting in the parking lot. She's a lot calmer than he's seen her lately, and seems a lot more at ease than before.

"My dads are picking me up." She says softly.

"I didn't tell anyone, you know. He didn't say anything either."

She looks up at him surprised.

"Why didn't you?" she chokes out.

"You're my best friend. I love you, Rachel Berry." he pulls her into a hug.

"I love you, too." she sobs into him. Her arms are wrapped so tightly around him that he wonders if she will ever let go.

* * *

While Kurt studies for his German exam, Finn makes himself comfortable at the end of his bed.

"Is she okay?"

Kurt can't tell if Finn is just worried for Rachel, or if he knows that Kurt knows what's going on.

In the end, he decides it doesn't matter.

"She will be." is all Kurt can say.

-x-

Rachel finds him as he's coming into the school the next morning. She's starting to look better, and for that he is glad.

"Kurt. . . are_ you_ okay?" He wasn't expecting her to even think about his happiness when it is so evident that she is struggling with her own.

"We can talk later, Rach. I'll come over after Glee, okay?"

"All right, Kurt. But you didn't answer my question."

It occurs to him that he doesn't know the answer.

* * *

Kurt sits his German exam, and almost immediately, he knows he failed it.

_Kurt. . . are you okay?_

It echoes.

He's not okay. He's better than Rachel has been, but perhaps he took the break up with Blaine, and the Juilliard/NYADA issue harder than he thought.

* * *

Glee is. . . _awkward._

With Santana being kicked out because of the purple piano debacle, and Rachel still not up to her usual self, everything seems forced.

It gives him too much room to think.

-x-

Was he going to fall like Rachel had?

* * *

Mercedes asks him to go shopping on Saturday, and he considers it. He hasn't gotten to see much of her since she started dating Shane, and she is one of his closest friends.

But he eventually says no.

The look of shock on Mercedes' face at the rejection is also mirrored on several of the other glee members.

"Kurt and I are going to a mixer for NYADA candidates on Saturday morning." Rachel blurts out. He tries to hide his own confusion when she says it.

_They are?_

"Oh. Why didn't you just say that, Kurt?" Mercedes asks.

He doesn't have an answer since he had no idea, but he manages to find words to reply to her question with after a moment.

"I haven't actually told my dad yet."

-x-

Although her dads are expecting her home right after Glee, Kurt stops at his dad's shop to talk to him for few minutes before he goes to her house.

"Rachel and I have plans to talk to some other NYADA candidates on Saturday. I completely spaced until she brought it up in Glee."

"I notice you're spending a lot of time with Rachel lately, Kurt. Anything you need to talk to me about?"

Yes.

"No, Dad. I'm just trying to help her with some things she's working through."

And it's true.

Mostly.

* * *

"Kurt. I really appreciate that you have been here so much for me lately."

He smiles. Of course he's here for her. She's his best friend.

"I talked to my new therapist today. She said it's natural for me to be worried so much."

"Are you doing okay with the therapy?" he asks. He's honestly wanting to know. Rachel matters to him, a concept he would have been terrified to think about just two years ago.

"Kurt, can I say something without you getting upset?"

"Of course, Rachel. I'm not going to get mad."

"I can't be your boyfriend, Kurt."

And it hurts when she says it. He knows she can't be his boyfriend. She's a_ girl._

He wants to yell at her, to be exasperated with her self-centeredness.

But the more he thinks about it, the more he realises that he _has_ been acting like she was his boyfriend. Calls and texts and hanging out almost every night.

"I'm sorry Rachel."

And he is.

"Don't be, Kurt. I was doing the same thing to you. You know, your boyfriend is going to be one lucky guy."

* * *

End of Chapter Four


End file.
